Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 8: Laserentwicklung: Festkörperlaser II

Q 8.7: Talk

Monday, March 2, 2009, 15:30–15:45, VMP 6 HS-C

Frequency stabilization of a Q-switched Nd:YAG oscillator following a radio-frequency sideband scheme modified by a sample and hold circuit — •Robert Elsner, Martin Ostermeyer, Thomas Waltinger, and Markus Gregor — Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str 24/25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany

Frequency stabilized laser sources in the pulsed domain are of interest for a number of applications - in particular for advanced LIDAR measurements. We present a modified Pound-Drever-Hall [1] technique applied to a Q-switched Nd:YAG ring oscillator [2]. The PDH-technique relies on a reasonably high Q of the resonator. The main limitation of the PDH-method for Q-switched operation is the low Q during the pump period of the gain material. During this period the PDH-scheme is blind and an ill-defined error signal is produced. This problem can be avoided by introducing a sample and hold controller to the scheme that is triggered by the Q-switch. Applying this technique to the injection seeded oscillator a frequency stability of better than 285kHz (rms) is obtained. The oscillator emits pulses of 23ns duration and 20mJ energy at a repetition rate of 400Hz.

[1] R. W. P. Drever et al., Appl. Phys. B 31 97*105 (1983)

[2] A. Sträßer et al., Applied Optics 46 8358-8363 (2007)